Quill and Scroll joins groups in opposing high school censorship

by John Bowen
Quill and Scroll’s Board of Trustees became the latest scholastic media group May 24 as it unanimously endorsed the Journalism Education Association and Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication resolution on high school journalism censorship.

Quill and Scroll’s Proposed Resolution reads:
Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists joins with the Journalism Education Association (JEA) and the Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in stating that no legitimate pedagogical purpose is served by the censorship of student journalism on the grounds that it reflects unflatteringly on school policies and programs, that it candidly discusses sensitive social and political issues, or that it voices opinions challenging to majority views on matters of public concern. The censorship of such speech, or the punishment of media advisers based on that speech, is detrimental to effective learning and teaching, and it cannot be justified by reference to “pedagogical concerns.”

Be it further resolved that:

Quill and Scroll joins JEA and AEJMC in declaring that the Hazelwood level of control over student journalistic speech is clearly incompatible with the effective teaching of journalistic skills, values and practices, and that institutions of secondary and postsecondary education should renounce reliance on Hazelwood as a source of authority for the governance of student and educator expression.

JEA and the Student Press Law Center urge state and regional journalism organizations to join them in making a national statement that nothing educational or legitimate comes from censorship stemming from the 1988 U. S. Supreme Court’s Hazelwood decision.